What would you do for tactics in Chicago, if you were Rupp?

Stay with the rabbits for as long as possible until he either:

A. Crashes and burn.

B. Wins the race in a American Record time.

c. Final sprint finish with Yuki Kawuachi

D. Final Sprint finish with Mohammed Farah

F. DNS or DNF due to injury

Cousin Ernie wrote:

So after this weekend’s 1/2 marathon result, what does Rupp do to beat Mo? I think his only option is running as fast as he possibly can, starting at about 21 miles. I suspect that as usual, if they are together with 2km to go, Mo will win. What would you do, if you were him (and I’m thinking race strategy, not dope)?

Hi Rupp!

brain dead genius wrote:

Cousin Ernie wrote:

So after this weekend’s 1/2 marathon result, what does Rupp do to beat Mo? I think his only option is running as fast as he possibly can, starting at about 21 miles. I suspect that as usual, if they are together with 2km to go, Mo will win. What would you do, if you were him (and I’m thinking race strategy, not dope)?

Hi Rupp!

I’m thinking it’s more Alberto

Yep.

Wildcards: Heat (Farah can run in the heat, too), Farah, Yuki, rabbits

Rupp needs to drop a huge sustained surge around mi 21-22 and grind Farah into the ground. Mo has only raced London (2x) and has never had the experience of being in it after 20 mi. Rupp is actually getting pretty good at picking it up, going 66/63 in Chicago 2017 and running very even splits of 63 in Prague despite weather conditions deteriorating over the last 1/2.

Mo has gone out in 61 for the first half of the thon so it wouldn't be possible for Rupp to go out hard enough to blow Mo up. Nobody could go out in 61 minutes or under without drastically slowing down in the 2nd half, unless it is a 100% healthy Bekele. Bekele was sick a bit before London. He has had so much bad luck. He was very fit when he did 2:03:03 but still not 100% form.

Anyone who saw yesterday's race knows that Mo's going to go out hard. Rupp has NO tactical options other than try to hang in with Sir Mo for as long as possible before he's dropped HARD.

Mo Farah: GOAT wrote: Anyone who saw yesterday's race knows that Mo's going to go out hard. Rupp has NO tactical options other than try to hang in with Sir Mo for as long as possible before he's dropped HARD.

Eh, yeah, he does. Good ones. Like go out in 49.5 as sarchoo suggested. We'll see WHO gets dropped after that...

With Galen's achilles problems and Mo's great results this year (2:06 off reckless pacing, low 59 from the front) this is Mo's race to lose... tactics won't matter

+1

Rupp's only winning move is not to play.

The marathon and 10K are different things. On the track Mo is hard to drop, but in a marathon he could be barely hanging on with 2K and not be able to cover an acceleration. In Rio, the Silver medalist was right in front of Rupp and not running fast, but Rupp had nothing left.

Take it out from the start, 13:50 first 5k. lead the whole way, control the race.

Mo dropped a sizzling 1/2 EARLY. He could be peak form now. Where does he go from there? There was talk on here years ago that when you are in top marathon shape it’s very difficult to run your best 1/2 before the ‘thon.

Draft off Rahm while he is heading for the hills.

He's not going to run in Chicago. Instead, he'll be a last-minute addition to NYC.

BTW, I just noticed Augustine Choge is in the field and it says its his debut. Didn't he DNF in Dubai this year?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

The marathon and 10K are different things. On the track Mo is hard to drop, but in a marathon he could be barely hanging on with 2K and not be able to cover an acceleration. In Rio, the Silver medalist was right in front of Rupp and not running fast, but Rupp had nothing left.

Pretty much this. Rupp has to hope that someone else leads long enough and fast enough that Mo gets tired. Even then it might not be wise to let it come down to the last half-mile (not wise to race a 3:28 1500 guy over 800m no matter how tired he is) so Rupp's best bet is to try to gap Farah with a mile or two to go and hope to hold on. If Rupp can surprise him and get enough separation that Mo isn't drafting, then it's just a question of who has more left. I tend to give the edge to Farah but Rupp is good enough to beat him if Farah isn't at his absolute best.

Honestly I would say it's too hard of a question. We haven't seen Mo kick in a marathon, but we have seen Galen. He flat out destroyed Kirui last year in the last 5km or so. I think for the marathon Mo might not be able to outkick Galen. Might not... Mo ran 2:06 in the heat so there is a chance he could possibly run a 2:04-2:05.

What would I choose to do? Try and run a crazy second half. *Shrug*

SaRchOOoo wrote:

Rupp can do this, but it will take big b@lls and can ONLY BY ACHIEVED GOING OUT IN 49.5 for the first 400. Once the necessary separation is achieved he needs to relax immediately into race pace.

Gotta be precise about this plan and GO HARD.

52.5 is simply too slow, Mo will stick like a leech.

This is funny because a cop in the NYPD/FD heat of the 5th Ave Mile this weekend went out in 57 for the first quarter (on route to a 5:15 or something). Stupidest thing I've seen in a while.

They come through half in 1:01:18 - LRC community explodes thinking WR goes down, stuff gets boring after mile 20 - Mo and Rupp duke it out until 23 where MO pulls ahead finishing in 2:06:51 rupp cruises shortly after.